Tree seed and community forestry

3. Review of community forestry experience with tree seed

There are only a few examples in the literature of indigenous
knowledge of tree seed handling and a few examples of
community forestry activities involving seed handling. The reason
could be that the experts and researchers themselves are the main
problem. They do not look for forestry activities at the level of
seed and they do not consider it important enough to emphasize it
in forestry activities. As Brokensha and Riley (1980) noted of
the Mukau tree in Kenya, whose seed is collected from the
droppings of goats and then germinated, and the tree itself is
protected by farmers:

Few forestry officials knew that this valuable tree could be
germinated by people; indeed, some authorities denied this
verbally and in print. Yet as we were told rather scathingly by an
old man, who was surprised by our ignorance "every uncircumcised
herd-boy knows how we germinate Mukau".

In another example from Kenya, mentioned earlier, the people
started collecting seed themselves and growing seedlings because
of a severe lack of trees for planting, 'without any intervention
by forestry officials (Brokensha et al, 1983).

Mung'ala (1987) described a forestry program in Kenya
involving local people in tree seed activities. Kenya was
reported to have an annual demand of 200 million tree seedlings,
of which it was estimated only 86 million were actually produced
by the three ministries and 78 tree planting organizations
involved in tree planting, as well as the country's millions of
farmers. This translated into a shortfall of 8-10,000 kg of seed.
The seed supply problems were identified as - too few suppliers,
seed not readily available to those needing it, species available
generally few, and often inappropriate, low quality seed, poor
selection and documentation, lack of information on species for
agroforestry.

To try to solve the problem the Kenya Woodfuel Development
Program (KWDP) was set up. Surveys conducted by the program found
considerable indigenous knowledge and experience among farmers in Tree
planting (although there was a division of the sexes in access to the
resources planted - the men sold the products for case despite the woman
having the responsibility to collect fuelwood) The program gave farmers
both seed and seedlings. Seedling production for distribution faced many
problems, while the farmers' nurseries achieved more success in raising
seedlings.

In trying to solve the problem of seed supplies three methods were
tried. Seed Production Units consisting of small blocks of trees were
established in schools, on state land and on farmers' land, for
introducing seed to communities. Seed orchards were established on state
land, and trees were planted on farms, the seed collected by field
staff. The Seed Production Units' failed because they were seen as KWDP
property and so were poorly maintained. The spacing was also too close,
giving low The seed orchards also gave low production because of close
spacing, while collecting seed from the trees planted on farms was too
laborious.

As a result of these failures, the program decided to
activate farmers to collect seed by paying them cash, for seed,
with a different price for each species. The result was 2,500 kg
of seed brought in. However, there were still problems with the
seed. The genetic quality was uncertain, seed quality was
variable, seed handling was variable, difficult to collect seed
was not certain to be collected, farmers might keep trees for
fuelwood etc. and not for seed production. Recommendations for
solving these problems were to use seed inspection teams, provide
standards and enforce and maintain, them, give training and
information, give fair pricing. The next phase for the program
was to mobilise schools to collect seed by letting them raise
seedlings and plant the trees themselves, and giving rewards such
as books, tools and equipment to the schools.

Handling, storage and distribution was organized by
receiving the seed at collection centres, packing in plastic
containers and sending to the program's district offices for
drying, cleaning, fumigation, testing, storage and distribution.
The seed was packed in small quantities (5-25 gm) for
distribution to small farmers and in larger quantities for larger
users.

The Forest Department in Kenya -produced a guide for tree
farming (Chavangi and Zimmerman, 1987) in response to the need
for practical advice to the new generation of extension foresters
and to the progressive farmers who wished to take up tree
farming. This guide includes a section on tree seed. Two lists of
seed sources were given, one for the-forest extension officer and
one for the farm forester. Advice was also given for farmers who
wished to collect their own seed:

Different trees produce seed at different times; it is
important to collect seed when trees area at their
peak seeding period so that the quality is the best
and quantity greatest; your forest extension officer
can advise you on these peak seedling times.

Collect only seed that is neither rotten nor green. Discard seed
that has obviously been damaged by pests
or is shrivelled. If you collect seed from the ground
do so immediately after falling as pests will quickly
damage the seed, often not visibly.

If you collect seed from the tree try not to damage.
the latter; please do not cut down trees in order to
collect seed.
collect seed from vigorous well-formed trees, but also
from several such trees to reduce the risk of
selecting for hidden bad traits (this is no different
from cattle breeding - if you know that a bull has
produced good offspring then it is alright to use that
bull).

Avoid collecting from trees in unusual situations (at
the and of their geographic range, growing on unusual
geology, in extreme habitats) as such trees may have
unusual adaptations which are not useful on average
farms.

The best seed trees are usually well-formed trees
within a large stand of the same trees. This means
that they are the best from a healthy population close
enough to have contributed a range of desirable
traits. In contrast, a well formed tree growing well
away from its relatives may be a.genetic accident that
may not reproduce itself. Isolated small stands of
trees should also be avoided because of the chance of
inbreeding.

If seed is stored it should be cleaned and dried, and
kept cool to prevent insect and fungal damage, and
loss of vigour."

Pretreatment of seed before sowing was also recommended for
difficult-to-germinate seed. Reference was made to another guide
from the Kenya Forestry Seed centre for details of pretreatment
for 200 species and to a guide from an NGO - KENGO for practical
aspects of seed collection.

The advice given on collecting seed could easily be upgraded
as it only covers selection of date to collect and trees to
collect from in general. What is needed for the community
forester/farm forester is an all-in-one guide to seed handling
incorporating all three of the types of guides produced in Kenya,
with special emphasis on species suitable for community forestry
and comments which may be specific to each particular species. As the
authors note, the guide was only intended as a beginning to stimulate
ideas for improvement.

In China, where communal activities have been organized on a
larger scale than in most countries, forest tree seed is included
in forestry activities at the communal level. Most seed collection is
organized by the Ministry of Forestry through seed
centres. The seed centres either purchase seed from the
production brigades operating state or commune nurseries or by
directly employing collecting teams. The commune nurseries are
normally located on poor land. They produce poor quality
seedlings because of poor management, and often produce easy to raise
species such as Populus and Salix. However they do make a
significant contribution to afforestation programs (FAO, 1982).
Seed orchards of superior species have been established, but the
report did not mention whether they were managed by the communes
or by the-Ministry of Forestry.

Seed availability, both in terms of quantities required and
location, is crucial to any community forestry program. Small
dispersed nurseries create administrative and financial problems
for large organizations. Chatterjee (1985) reported on the use of
schools to manage small, scattered nurseries in a social forestry
project in West Bengal. The schools were chosen based on location
of planting programs, availability of irrigation water and
interest shown by headmasters. Technical assistance was given by
project staff and training in nursery management given, including
pretreatment of seeds and sowing techniques. Seed, fertilizer,
insecticide and polyethylene bags were provided by the project.

The school children were the labourers in the nurseries. The
project bought the seedlings produced by the schools, enabling
them to pay for incurred costs and have profit left over to buy
school materials and equipment. In 1983, 183 participating
schools produced 633,000 seedlings. However, the program suffered
from a lack of participation by the State Education Department,
school holidays coinciding with peak nursery work, and lack of
skills required for the program by project staff and teachers.
Change in government policy, deciding to establish farmer and
village council nurseries instead, threatened to end the program,
despite its success.

The program, through the documentation of costs of seedling
production, also showed that the cost of seed is an almost
negligible factor in seedling costs, constituting only 0.6% of
the total. Therefore making efforts to get good quality seed, of
well chosen and improved species/varieties etc. is one of the
best investments for a forestry program, as doubling or even
quadrupling seed costs have a negligible effect on seedling costs
yet have great effect on the trees produced. In this example, if
the seed costs doubled, the cost of seedling production would
only rise by 0.0025 rupees per seedling, on 0.27 rupees. If total
tree establishment costs are considered, then investing in the
extra cost of good seed will produce the highest returns in any
forestry investment.